16 Big Losses in Production and How to Prevent Them
Losses in manufacturing processes means that your resources are wasted during operations. These losses greatly impact, directly or indirectly, on product quality, productivity, and profitability of the company. These losses go with different names according to the type of Industries, but their nature remains same.
To help identify all losses in a process system (man/machine/material), and thus, eliminate them, they have been divided into 16 categories, and can be grouped accordingly as shown below:
- Equipment Failure ( or Breakdown) Loss
- Set up & Adjustment Loss
- Cutting Tool/ Blade Change Loss
- Start-up Loss
- Minor Stoppage & Idling Loss
- Speed Loss
- Defects and Rework Loss
- Shutdown loss (Planned Maintenance Loss)
- Operation Loss
- Stir Loss or Operating Stir Loss
- Line Organization Loss
- Distribution/ Logistic Loss
- Measurement & Adjustment Loss
- Energy Loss
- Consumable Loss
- Yield Loss
These 16 major losses can also be further divided into three (3) categories, namely:
- Losses Impacting on Machine availability
- Losses Impacting on Performance
- Losses Impacting on Coffers Consumption
Losses Impacting on Machine availability
Machine/Equipment Failure ( or Breakdown) Loss
This type of failure occurs when the machine is under some kind of breakdown and as such not suitable for operation. This also include if the machine isn’t suitable to operate at rated capacity for any reason. A good manufacturing practice is a target of zero breakdowns. To correct this kind of failure is corrected during breakdown maintenance. Equipment failure can be prevented by enforcing preventative maintenance approach.
Set up & Adjustment Loss
This type of loss is incurred while trying to change any transfiguration on the machine at a particular time to meet a process demand. This change may include product change, tool change and others. The concept of Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) can be used in minimizing loss associated with Setup & Adjustment.
Cutting Tool/Blade Replacement Loss
This type of loss is incurred while trying to replace the cutting tool or cutting blade at a particular time. It is the time loss in swapping any consumable tooling item when it has become worn/ineffective or damaged. Examples of these tools include drill bit, grinding wheel, valve, rammer, knife, etc. Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) can also be used to minimize this type of loss.
Start-up Loss
This loss occurs while trying to start the machine. It includes the process of balancing the line to get to steady state operating conditions, stabilizing the product and process qualification by quality assurance before running the line. The loss captures all losses until the machine runs at a rated speed. The start-up process may include the manufacturing set up, line clearance etc. This loss can be reduced by homogenizing the processes and parameters.
Minor Stoppage & Idling Loss
This loss is incurred when the machine stops constantly for a veritably small period of time, usually less than 1 minute. They are small stoppages not considered as breakdowns and issues causing the machine to be idle for short periods. Minor stoppages sometimes occur due to malfunction of sensors, product blockage, machine jamming, resetting parameters, and others. They are typically small stoppages not logged as breakdowns and issues causing the machine to pause or idle for short periods.
Speed Loss
Speed loss is incurred when the machine runs at speed lower than the design speed. In order to correct this, the machine should be targeted at running at the speed it is designed for. It should be noted that a line speed may reduce due to quality issues, mechanical problems or gaps in the product on conveyors.
Defect and Rework Loss
This is the loss incurred by trying to correct an already produced defective product through rework, repair or scrapping. It is incurred by not producing ‘right the first time’. This loss can be prevented by regularizing processes and parameters before mass production.
Shut down Loss (Planned Conservation Loss)
This loss is incurred when equipment is shut down for conduct a planned maintenance activity, periodic overhaul, cleaning or statutory inspections. This loss occurs when you deliberately shut down the equipment within the production plan.
Loss Affecting Performance
Management Loss
These are waiting losses that caused by operation issues such as waiting for resource such as material, tools, work instruction etc.
Motion Loss or Operating Motion Loss
These are losses incurred as a result of excess or unnecessary movement of operators any part of the process as a result of poor process layout and work organization. This can be minimized by optimizing the process layout.
Line Organization Loss
This loss is incurred as a result of shortage of operators on the line and operators having to work on more equipment than planned. It is the waiting loss at the process position. To prevent this, consider using Line Balancing or Bottleneck Analysis Concept.
Distribution Loss
This loss is related to man-hour losses due to incorrect or inefficient transport of raw materials, semi- finished products, or finished products from one location to another within the factory of production line. This kind of loss can be prevented by automating material/product transportation at different situations.
Measurement & Adjustment Loss
This is loss due to frequent dimension & adaptation of machine settings to prevent the recurrence of problems. Examples of this loss include excessive inspection integrated in the process in an attempt to find root causes of a quality issue, loss experienced when adjusting equipment back to the standard after routine cleaning and periodic consumable changes etc. This loss can be minimized enforcing Poka-Yoke and process standardizations techniques.
Yield, Energy & Tooling Loss
Energy Loss
These are losses incurred as a result of ineffective application of input energy like electric, gas, energy canvas, brume, air, and water etc. in processing. They are the input energy which cannot be used effectively for processing. Examples include losses due to heat radiation, leakage of energy, leakage of air, Leakage of canvas, etc. Energy loss has a high impact on total cost so we need to minimize this kind of loss.
Consumable Loss
These are losses due to repair and replacement of spare, die, tool, etc. It is the cost of physical consumption of the spare parts or maintenance of items that are used on the production line.
Yield Loss
This is the total loss between the input of raw material and the output of finished goods. This is seen for instance when the weight of the finished product is more than the design specification that is required to maintain the good quality of the product.
About the Author
Adebayo is a thought leader in continuous process improvement and manufacturing excellence. He is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt (CSSMBB), Digital Manufacturing Professional and ISO Management Systems Lead Auditor (ISO 9001, 45001 & ISO 22000) with strong experience leading various continuous improvement initiative in top manufacturing organizations.
You can reach him here.
